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14:58, July 10, 2007 |
A legal loophole could see Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef held indefinitely by Australian Federal Police for questioning over alleged links to terrorism, the doctor 's lawyer said Tuesday.
Haneef, the 27-year-old who has been working in Australia since last year, was arrested last week at Brisbane airport over foiled U.K. car bombings.
Under current laws, Haneef can only be held for 24 hours, but the legislation does not specify how long he can be held on "down time," which is time spent in custody without questioning while police carry out their investigation, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio.
Haneef's lawyer, Peter Russo, said his client is also not allowed to make an application for bail.
"Even people charged with serious offenses have the right to make a bail application, there's no provision within the act for similar type of applications to be made," he was quoted by ABC as saying.
"There's no sort of safety net," he said.
Russo said he is starting to worry about his client's mental health.
"It's in everybody's interest that the investigation is carried out, but it's also in everybody's interest that it gets carried out in a timely fashion," he added.
Russo also said earlier that his client is not being treated fairly because he does not have access to the material that police are relying on to keep him detained.
Russo said the Australian Federal Police still have not provided full details about the case, and that he will write to Federal authorities to seek further information.
Two Australian police officers have been sent to India for investigation into the case.
Source: Xinhua
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